Absolution Gap
by the Chronic Meltdown
Summary: When they first met, Kim was eleven and Shego seventeen. And, really, it was a strange first meeting, since Shego was trying to break into her house while holding a bleeding rabbit. Semi-AU; acknowledges series as canon. KiGo.
1. Prologue

Absolution Gap

_Prologue_

When they first met, Kim was eleven and Shego seventeen.

And, really, it was a very strange meeting. After all, it wasn't all the time that a little, red headed girl with hair up in a ponytail and braces stumbled across a pretty teenager in a black and green jacket. Especially when the pretty girl in the black and green jacket was trying to break into a house. Particularly when it was _her_ house being broken into.

But at eleven, Kim Possible wasn't exactly in the crime fighting business. At the moment, she was more of an 'I wanna be a cheerleader' girl. So when she caught the pretty girl with the black and green jacket in her backyard, with an injured rabbit in her hands, fiddling with the lock on the back door, she did the only thing she could think of.

She let her inside.

Their relationship was, from the start, an unconventional one.

Kim walked inside her house, looked outside, caught the pretty teenager. Shego blinked, grimaced, and took a step back, ready to flee. And then the little girl –_peculiar child_, she remembered thinking – walked forward, shouting, "Wait!" because she'd seen the rabbit. She'd let Shego inside, without a comment as to her almost greenish skin, with eyes only for the rabbit.

She'd recognized it, you see.

The previous month, she'd gone on a field trip with her classmates. It had been arranged by their science teacher, and he'd taken them to a pharmaceutical company on the outskirts of Middleton. She'd noticed the strangest things, like, say, rabbits with chunks of hair missing, or mutilated limbs, or hundreds of little mice cowering in the corner of a cage, all pressed together. Terrified.

But there had been one particular black and white rabbit that had caught her attention. It had been a beautiful little thing, all fluffed up, and she'd wanted to pet it very badly. But it too had scampered away when they'd approached.

It was the rabbit in the pretty teenager's hands. It was bleeding.

So she'd opened the back door and gestured for the seventeen year old to come inside. Anxiety had flashed across Shego's face. She hadn't been all that great at handling stress back in her first year away from her stupid brothers, but that very quickly disappeared when she slapped herself mentally for worrying about escaping from a little kid. A _midget_, at that.

_Christ,_ she'd thought. _These kids get smaller and smaller each year._

So she followed the shrimp inside and blinked when she found herself within a room the size of her house.

When Kim saw her frozen at the doorway while staring at the presumably expensive furniture, she said, by way of explanation, "My dad is a rocket scientist and my mother's a brain surgeon."

Shego had raised an eyebrow. "Aha…"

The future hero paused right in front of the stairs. She looked over her shoulder to find that the pretty teenager had not moved an inch.

"Do you know how to use a needle?" She'd asked her, emerald eyes shimmering with the same intensity she would obtain when fighting crime in the future. "It needs stitches."

The dark haired thief (_because she'd stolen the rabbit, and there was no way to get past that_) stepped forward, lips pressed into a tight line.

"Do you have an electric razor?"

"My dad has one."

"That'll work."

So together, they scrambled up the stairs, found the razor and the needle, shaved the rabbit's leg, and with the appropriate amount of wire, stitched up the cut on its thigh. Kim had held it in place while Shego had done the actual work. The red head still hadn't gotten over her squeamish side, and little rabbits wriggling in pain really weren't helping her sudden case of nausea.

"You okay there, Pumpkin?"

Kim had flushed a bright red that matched her hair, which the future villainess had found charmingly adorable in a rather sadistic way. Then the little girl had glared at her. This had, quite naturally, further served to amuse Shego.

"I'm fine." The girl had muttered, before, quite reluctantly, adding, "My name is Kim."

With a wry smile, the pretty teenager had replied, "Call me Shego."

And so, the rabbit had been stitched, and Shego felt the violent urge to apologize for having tried to break into the girl's house. But her pride would not permit it, so she stepped out through the back door, with the rabbit in her hands, and shifted awkwardly on her feet.

"Listen." She'd said, fidgeting, "I would've gone to a vet or something, but I didn't have any money, and the little thing was bleeding, so…"

"Sure." Kim had nodded, speaking softly for a girl her age.

Then she'd retreated inside her house after telling her to wait, and, after a few minutes, had returned outside. By that time, the sun had been setting, and the sight of an orange sky had left Shego nervous and itching to leave.

But then the kid had held up a wad of money and had shoved it into her hand before she could ask what she was doing.

"For the rabbit." Kim had said, by way of explanation.

Shego had blinked slowly. "The vets are probably closed by now."

"Take it tomorrow."

And normally, she would not have taken kindly to being ordered around, especially by a _midget_, but it had been for an animal's sake. So she'd swallowed her irritation and turned around, hopping over the fence before Kim had closed her eyes to blink.

XxX

The second time Kim saw Shego, it had been three days after the first time, and the girl had been lounging on a chair in her backyard. She'd been wearing the same clothes she'd seen her in the first time, except for the addition of some black sunglasses, the subtraction of the rabbit, and the sudden apparition of a presumably stolen magazine.

When Kim had opened her back door and moved to stand beside her, the teenager had looked up from the magazine and had observed her from underneath the sunglasses.

"Hey, Pumpkin…"

Kim had been slightly surprised at the tentative tone in Shego's voice.

"Yes?"

The dark haired girl seemed to struggle with herself before forcing out the words.

"…Could I…could I use your shower?"

Kim had nodded.

XxX

After that, a whole week went by without Shego's presence.

She'd almost given up on seeing the girl again. It had been rather disappointing to come home after parting ways with Ron to find no one out in her backyard. And she'd dashed there, too. It was the strangest thing. She almost _missed_ the older girl.

And then, late at night, there had come a tapping on her bedroom window.

She'd groggily sat up before fumbling with her nightstand to turn on her lamp. When she'd found Shego's face peering back at her, she'd instinctively shoved her Pandaroo underneath her bed sheets. She hadn't wanted to know what the older girl would've said if she'd seen it.

And then she'd walked over to the window, opened the latch, and allowed the girl inside.

Shego had wandered over to her bed and sat down beside it, angling her legs in front of her in order to wrap her arms around herself. Meanwhile, Kim had locked the window.

And then the red head had followed the future villain in order to sit down next to her. She'd glanced at her and glanced at her and glanced at her until the girl had growled in irritation and had looked at her with vague annoyance. Kim somehow felt relief at the expression.

"What is it, Kimmie?"

She had flushed again before retorting, "I should be asking you that."

Shego's scowl darkened. "It's nothing."

Sensing that the older girl wouldn't answer questions in that direction, she had sighed, and remained silent. Time passed like that, for a while, and though her eyelids continued to grow heavy with fatigue, she refused to let them shut. Instead, she shifted again, and looked at the older girl from the corner of her eye.

"Hey, Shego…?"

"Yes, Pumpkin?"

Kim's lips twitched involuntarily.

"…How old are you?"

With a very tangible reluctance, Shego answered.

"…I'm seventeen."

And that had marked the beginning of a very dysfunctional friendship.

**A/N: **

I suppose I should explain several things. For one, this will be my main focus. I am determined to pen this very long, very tedious plot. It's been driving me crazy since I discovered this fandom. And yes, this will ultimately e KiGo. This will acknowledge pretty much everything that happened in the actual series, but those events will barely be mentioned. This will be generally driven by my brain.

Right. So, yes. The premise is that Shego and Kim met four years before Kim begins her stunts as a hero, and four years before Shego actually begins her little career in crime. This will probably be painful to read, because of everything that happens. But it's meant to be that way. Oh. And bear with the mistakes in this chapter, please...I still haven't found a proper beta, and reading it myself sucks. :

Oh, and...

The next chapter will deal with Kim when she's twelve, thirteen, and the beginning of fourteen. So yeah. It'll be very long. I might actually have to split it.

Later.  
PS: Any beta offers will be greatly appreciated.


	2. Ch 1: counting paper cuts

Absolution Gap

**Chapter 1: **counting paper cuts

When Kim turned twelve, her parents threw her a birthday party.

It was fun, and all of her friends were there- even that silly Bonnie Rockwaller who'd started giving her a hard time once she'd declared that she wanted to try out for the cheerleading squad. Of course, she was a little too young for it at the moment, but still. She'd expressed the desire anyway, and had attempted to begin practicing. Bonnie had not taken kindly to her determination, and had also begun to practice.

So anyway, Kim turned twelve, and her parents threw her a birthday party. Ron had been his usual semi-dorky self, tripping and losing his pants whenever they played cops-and-robbers, and Kim had laughed at his antics. She'd come home with her cheeks flushed from laughter, and had practically danced upstairs.

So imagine her surprise when she found Shego sitting on her windowsill, with her right cheek bruised and a slight quirk to her lips. She quickly closed the door to her bedroom, because her parents were downstairs, and, _Oh God, they're gonna come up any minute now._

"_Sh-Shego!_" She'd stuttered, and then noticed her Pandaroo staring at her from right at the edge of her bed.

"Yeah…" The teenager had mumbled, the quirk of her lips only growing with her increasing amusement.

She was beginning to derive glee from leaving the little girl a fumbling, flustered mess. It was funny. Very funny, actually. She might actually laugh if things continued the way they were. Scratch that. She was fighting off laughter at that very second, what, with Kim indiscreetly lunging for her little stuffed toy and shoving it somewhere behind her.

But that hadn't been what she'd gone there for, and the thought made her smile fall.

She stepped off the windowsill and walked forward, stopping only a foot away from the little girl. She could hear the parents climbing the stairs, speaking with each other, and could see that the sounds were only increasing the midget's panic. Bright green eyes were wide, with pupils dilated. Shego's lips quirked again.

She held up the small wad of money she had been able to come up with in the last three weeks, grabbed the girl's hand, and placed the roll on it. Kim's fingers tightened around it reflexively. By the time she looked down, figured out what it was, and looked up again, Shego had been halfway through the window.

"That's half the money." She had said, and Kim had been momentarily perplexed by the sudden darkness in her eyes.

She ran forward, hand outstretched, and managed to grab the sleeve of the older girl's jacket.

"Wait." She'd whispered, because her parents were nearly outside her door. "Come back later."

Shego met her eyes.

"Please." Kim insisted, and unleashed the full force of her pre-teen puppy dog pout.

The older girl, having been caught off guard, promptly twitched and slipped sideways down the roof. It had been raining earlier, and she quietly cursed the clouds for the wet tiles. She managed to catch herself on a nook between two tiles and- she remembered hearing Kim's name as pronounced by her father, and her mother's voice, asking what she was doing looking out the window. Kim had very briefly flashed her an apologetic grin before turning to her parents and disappearing behind the swish of a curtain.

And so Shego remained there, dangling on the roof and making a face at the sky, all the while wondering, _What the hell was with that pout?_

Because it had caused her a sensory overload on cuteness. And Shego didn't _do_ cute.

XxX

It had been nearing one thirty when Shego tapped on her window again.

Kim had jumped out of bed and pretty much dashed over to unlock it. The raven haired thief had then slipped inside, light as a feather, and had wandered over to the bed in order to pluck the Pandaroo from underneath the girl's bed sheets. Kim had flushed. And then lunged to take it away from the girl's hands.

"Give it back!" She hissed, trying to tug it out of her hands.

Shego's lips twitched up into a small grin. "But Kimmie…this is so _kindergarten._"

"Shut up…!" She whined, and, having managed to pull it away from the older girl, drew it up against her chest. "Mom just doesn't want me to throw him out…"

"Your mom, huh?" The green skinned girl had smiled tiredly, then, as she sat down beside the bed.

Kim arranged herself beside her, still holding on to the Pandaroo in her lap. She could tell something was wrong. It was actually very obvious. But Shego wasn't really a sharing person- she'd been able to tell that much in the few meetings they'd had since the first one.

"So, Princess…" Kim blinked, flushed, and scowled, all in the span of a few seconds. "Why'd you want me to come back?"

"I…" She paused.

She'd only just realized she wasn't exactly sure why. She just knew that she'd wanted to see her. She scrunched up her nose and wasn't very keen on admitting that to Shego.

"I wanted to talk." She said, at last, and glanced up at the older girl. She was rewarded with a raised eyebrow and a very flat stare. She began to feel extremely self-conscious. "What?" She asked, almost defensive.

"You wanted to _talk_." Shego repeated, and Kim was not very reassured by the fact that the eighteen year old sounded disbelieving. "Are you serious, Pumpkin?"

The red head blushed brightly, drawing the Pandaroo even tighter against her chest. Shego took the silence as an answer.

But instead of doing exactly what her brain told her she should have done, she stayed put. She stretched out her legs and arms before slumping back against the bed. _Stupid feelings_, she thought, frowning darkly at the wall. She sighed heavily, making sure to appear as reluctant as possible.

"…What did you want to talk about?"

Kim instantly brightened. "It was my birthday…uhm…yesterday, I guess, so I'm twelve now, and my parents threw me a party…"

Shego made herself comfortable. The kid…the kid was okay, after all.

XxX

After that occasion, Shego made it a point to stop by at least once every week. She tended to prefer Tuesdays and Fridays, though why this was tended to escape Kim. Whenever she'd ask, Shego would evade the question and bring up the topic of the rabbit and how well it was doing. She'd apparently given it away to a good family and would drop by every once in a while to check on it. The family, of course, remained delightfully unaware of this fact.

So Shego would drop by at least once every week, and Kim would often find her lounging in her backyard with her sunglasses and a different magazine. If there was a constant in their relationship, it was the fact that Shego would have a different magazine every time they saw each other. Kim chose not to wonder how she got them.

When she'd let the older girl inside, she would ask for a shower, Kim would let her take it, and while waiting for Shego to finish, she'd think about telling Ron about her newfound friendship. There was a part of her that really wanted to do it, but there was also another that advised her against it. It was an unspoken fact that telling people secrets while in high school usually resulted in unforeseeable tragedy. And though she was still in middle school, she was only a year and a half away from high school, and didn't want to risk it. If Ron let it slip even once, bad things would happen. She could _feel_ it.

And then there was another part that told her she was being ridiculous for trying to come up with excuses, because she knew perfectly well that Ron would never let it slip. That was the part of her that admitted to being selfish and wanted to keep Shego's existence all to herself. And it wasn't really healthy, but older girl was the most exciting thing to happen in her life since braces, and really, braces weren't all that great, but Shego was, and-

Kim rolled her eyes and pouted at herself in the mirror.

"Mentally ranting is not an attractive quality." She told herself, before rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling.

"Neither is speaking to yourself, Pumpkin." Kim blinked and sat up straight. Shego, with her wet and silky looking hair, was standing at the doorway to her room in nothing but a towel. She was smirking crookedly in very obvious amusement. "Should I be worried?"

"No." She replied with a small frown, which was currently directed at the older girl's chest.

She then looked down at her own. Shego's laughter made her eyes widen. Her gaze shot up to meet Shego's own.

"Don't worry, Princess." A pale hand –with an almost greenish pallor – stretched out to pat her on the head. "They'll grow."

If Kim hadn't been so distracted by the laugh, she would've felt insulted. Instead, she replied with a very pathetic, "Ha. I wasn't thinking about that."

"Right, right…" The eighteen year old said, smirking widely, "Say, Kimmie…where's your brush?"

Kim hopped out of bed and walked over to her vanity while Shego sat down on the chair at her desk. She opened the drawer on the top corner and took out a brush before walking over to the older girl and handing it to her. She sat down on the edge of her bed, silently watching as Shego combed through her hair.

"Hey…" She began, somewhat hesitantly, "Shego?"

"Mm?"

She tilted her head at Shego's inquisitive expression. "Where're you from?"

The older girl instantly darkened. "Next question."

Kim pouted. "But-"

"_Next question_."

There was something in the older girl's eyes that stopped her from insisting. So instead she sighed in temporary irritation and asked another question that had been preying on her for quite some time.

"What do you do on your spare time?"

Shego smiled at that, and mumbled something along the lines of, 'What spare time?' before replying.

"I'm getting a degree on child development."

It is unnecessary to say that Kim was very surprised.

"Really?"

"I dislike nosy children."

"…"

"I was kidding."

"…"

"Kimmie. Stop. With. The pouting."

XxX

Shego had been splayed across one of Kim's chairs when she'd heard the front door slam. It speared through her calmness and shattered all hopes of her being able to concentrate. And then, when the back door was unlocked, but the kid didn't come out, she'd quirked an eyebrow. She shifted in her seat, craning her neck to try to see inside the house. She was only able to discern a state of semi-darkness.

She quirked an eyebrow and stood up, concerned very much despite herself. She held the folded magazine underneath her arm and pushed open the door before stepping through it and closing it behind her. The house was dark and she almost didn't see the little toy plane in the middle of the living room. Kim had told her she had two younger brothers – two twins whom she referred to as 'the tweebs' – and Shego could remember having reveled at the similarities.

Now, though, she was really sort of worried, and wasn't sure whether or not to proceed.

"Kimmie…?" She called out softly, as she prepared to bolt for the door.

When nothing happened, she gritted her teeth and stepped forward, because she wasn't a coward, and, _God, kids are troublesome_. And then, at the foot of the staircase, she heard it. The sound of someone sniffling. And it was alarming, really. Almost glaringly so.

Was the Pumpkin _crying_?

She rubbed her temples and mentally prepared herself. It took a lot of effort not to run away, particularly because the last time she'd tried to comfort someone, she'd ended up making them cry even more. Her own pair of twins had caused her an enormous amount of discomfort that time. Her older brother had ended up yelling at her. She had then vowed not to comfort any crying children again.

Her conscience, though, warned her that this was _Kimmie_, and was therefore not ignorable. So she marched up the stairs, with every intention of running if things took a turn for the worse, and God damn it, when had she become so awkward?

She pushed open the door to Kim's room with a slight flick of her wrist and gingerly moved forward to sit down beside her on the bed. The kid had her face buried against her Pandaroo. Shego squished the urge to tease her. It was not yet the time.

"So…Kimmie..." The girl's sniffling slightly reduced. "…what happened…?"

There was silence for a few seconds before a quivering voice answered her question.

"B-Bonnie Rockwaller…"

Shego was momentarily disgusted at the staggering amount of pity she felt for the girl and the sudden irritation she held for whoever Bonnie Rockwaller was.

"What'd she do…?" She asked gently before subconsciously beginning to pet the girl's head.

Really, it was entirely subconscious. She'd begun to do it even when she didn't have a reason for it. It was just somehow soothing. The shrimp was growing on her. She'd just never, ever admit to it.

Kim looked up at her with watery eyes. "She told me that I'm not pretty enough to have a change of getting on the cheerleading squad."

Shego almost snorted. "You want to be a cheerleader?"

The red head flushed and sat up, looking mildly offended. "Cheerleading is a type of sport and-"

"It's okay, Princess." She said, holding her hands up in a gesture of defense. "I'm not criticizing you. I was just surprised."

The twelve year old frowned and shifted closer, mumbling a small "Sorry…" before resting her head across Shego's lap. Her eyes were still teary, and she looked upset enough that the raven haired girl let it slide. She usually never let anyone rest on her lap, but she supposed she could make an exception this one time.

"Pumpkin…" She began, and she really had no idea where she was going with the conversation. "Listen…you're…er...you're cute."

_Fuck. I sound like a pedophile._

"…And…when you grow older…you're gonna be very…nice to look at. So…cheer up...and trust… me?"

Kim stared at her. "You think I'm cute?" The thought was making her feel strangely warm in the face.

Shego's mouth twisted into a strangled smile. "Of course that'd be the only thing you'd pay attention to…"

But the little kid's small, soft grin was oddly worth it.

XxX

"All right, Kimmie. I want you to do it again, but this time, I'm gonna time you. So get to it."

Kim groaned and rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm not doing this again if you're just gonna sit there in the shade."

Shego looked up at her from underneath her sunglasses. "I'm helping you train for your little cheerleading stunt next year, Pumpkin."

The red head glared at her, refusing to budge. "Run _with_ me."

The now nineteen year old scowled. "No. I refuse."

They glared at each other for a few seconds before Kim's expression softened. It was a very dangerous sign. She'd become extremely well-acquainted with it as the months had gone by. It had convinced her to take the child to see the rabbit in the middle of the night (and they'd almost gotten caught doing it). It had coerced her into helping the red head with her chores around the house (including the ones that Kim herself had not wanted to do).

It was the dreaded pout's first warning sign. Shego steeled herself. Damn it. This time, she would not submit. Even though Kim was really starting to look like a kicked puppy.

A very wet and desolate kicked puppy.

A kicked puppy with matted fur sitting in the middle of the street in the pouring rain, waiting to die.

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it! Just stop it!"

Kim smirked. It irritated Shego. Smirking was her thing, not Kimmie's. Kimmie was too young to smirk.

Grumbling, she made her way into the sun and fell into a tense stance beside the midget. "Let's do it, Pumpkin." She said, narrowing her eyes, gaze focused on the corner of the street.

Kim grinned. "Wanna make it a race? People say I'm really fast."

Shego snorted good-naturedly. "We'll see how fast you are." She lowered into a crouch. "Just try and catch me. At the count of three…"

The soon-to-be-thirteen year old tensed.

"One…"

Her lips twisted into an eager smile.

"Two…"

She took a deep breath.

"Three!"

They took off.

And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't catch Shego.

XxX

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this…" The raven haired girl complained, shifting on the bench in order to make space for Kim.

The girl had dragged her to an ice skating rink. The little midget had discarded her every argument and had pouted her way into the nineteen year old's heart in order to wrench and hack at her few remaining heartstrings. It didn't matter to Kim that she'd look like a complete pedophile. It didn't matter that she could go to prison.

It had been her thirteenth birthday a week earlier, and Shego still owed her a present. And thus, she had been forced to ice skate. Besides, the red head had argued that if people asked, they could say that she was her babysitter.

She had promptly snapped out something along the lines of, "So you finally admit you're a baby."

To which Kim had pouted, and Shego's last line of defense had crumbled. Sarcasm had thus proven to be an ineffective weapon against manipulative children.

"Oh, stop complaining." Kim told her, delight shining in her eyes and very apparent in her smile. She took her seat right next to her before starting to tug her own pair of skates on. "We're not even in Middleton anymore, so no one will recognize you."

Shego rolled her eyes and looked at her in exasperation. "If I get thrown into jail for this, Pumpkin, I swear…"

They looked at each other for a few brief seconds. Kim thought the older girl was exaggerating. Shego thought the little girl was naïve. To an outsider, it looked like a very _odd_ thing, and began to cause exactly what the raven haired girl _feared_. So things began to move against them, while they wasted time, except that by the time an officer walked over, they were in the ice skating rink…

_Ice skating_.

The officer rolled his eyes and marched over to the outsider who'd disturbed him.

"Well, would you look at that." He said in sarcastic wonder, "They're ice skating at an ice skating rink." The outsider began to sputter, but he shushed him. "I'll keep an eye on them. But the child doesn't seem to be complaining. In fact, she seems perfectly happy." He scratched his chin. "And besides, they could be sisters."

The outsider blanched at him. "_Sisters?_ Are you joking? They're completely different. The older one is _green_, for God's sake!"

The officer leveled him with a stern stare. "Don't be racist. Have you studied genetics?"

"Well, yes, but in high school-"

"Then if you don't remember anything, shut up, go touch up on it, and leave me the hell alone." He sniffed indignantly, taking a step back towards his desk. "You disturbed me in the middle of my soap opera."

The outsider was left very confused.

Meanwhile, Kim and Shego were having fun. Not that the relatively green girl would have ever admitted to it. In fact, she was complaining, but Kim was used to that. The little red head knew Shego well enough to understand that the older girl had a slight case of social ineptitude when it came to revealing what she was feeling. It was why she wasn't pouting, and simply laughed every time a complaint came out of the older girl's mouth.

She gripped the girl's hand tighter and attempted to pull her towards the middle, where virtually no one was skating.

It was where Kim let go of Shego's hand and began skating circles around her.

It was where their second competition began. Their second competition, their second chase, and Shego won again.

**A/N: **

Had to cut it off there. Anyway, I'm making it my goal to update every week, exactly a week apart. xD So I'll have to work hard, around my crap school schedule, to make this work.

But hey, it's worth it. I was sincerely amazed at the response I got from the Prologue, and it made me feel all weird and mushy on the inside.

I dun' like warm feelings. They make me feel...icky.

:D Just kidding. Though, happiness is a warm gun.

Later.


End file.
